Dispatches from the Hollywood District in Portland. Random stuff when I get around to it. A lot of Hank stuff since he is way more active than I am. Haven't been traveling as much lately, but when I do - expect updates.

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

The 53 Places to Go in 2008

From Laos to Lisbon, the travel choices for global nomads have never been more varied.

We should be able to hit a couple of these, no?

A few personal notes from the list:

WHAT?!?!? - Detroit is #40?

Puerto Vallarta is listed as #12... trying to get people to go there with us in February

Lisbon is #2 (been there, done that)

Libya is #10 – totally want to go there

Prague is #14 (and still part of my central European to do list... Do again anyway - it was AWESOME the first time I went)

Malaga is #45 (been there, done that)

Buenos Aires @ #27... Might need to do that one this year. We're due for a Latin / South American trip

Munich is #17 (been there done that also, and like Prague, it's still part of my central European 'do it again' list)

Mazatlan is #24... really? I wasn't impressed. But, I'm not impressed with Detroit either, and I never did really venture away more than 5 blocks from our Mzt hotel

Others I can check off: San Francisco (#39), San Diego (#44), New York City (#53), London (#47), Las Vegas (#50)

I complain about going to Detroit for Christmas (leaving next Thursday in fact), but at least I can check it off the list... again. I had to reprint their review. Looks like they're into the hotels & investment... Don't see much of that from the 'burbs. Just lots of strip malls and crazy-ass make-a-right-to-go-left turns.

40. DETROIT

Historically crime-ridden Detroit may not spring to mind as a hot tourist spot, but don't tell that to the city's bullish hoteliers. Newcomers include the MGM Grand Detroit (www.mgmgranddetroit.com), the MotorCity Casino Hotel (www.motorcitycasino.com) in an old Wonder Bread factory and the historic Book Cadillac Hotel, being transformed into a Westin (www.westinbookcadillac.com). Plus, the Detroit Institute of Arts (www.dia.org) just reopened after a $158 million renovation.

They didn't mention the burned out buildings, smoke stacks, 1-degree weather and that all the bars are in strip malls...